February 5, 1940.

Okamura Neiji was promoted to Japanese Army General and was appointed commander of the North China Front on the same day.

He was the third commander of the North China Front that Jiangdong faced after Sugiyama Moto and Tada Shun.

From the perspective of the Japanese base camp, the situation in North China was already in danger. Not only did two successive commanders fail to curb the development of Jiangdong, but they also lost hundreds of thousands of imperial warriors.

When the building was about to collapse, a group of old men in the base camp thought of Okamura Neiji, who is known as the master of China!

In order to make Okamura Neiji work wholeheartedly for His Majesty the Emperor and reverse the unfavorable situation in North China, the base camp promoted Okamura Neiji to general in advance.

Okamura Neiji, who was appointed at the critical moment, was also unambiguous. He set off for North China on the second day after receiving the appointment.

After arriving in Peiping, Okamura Neji discovered that the situation was much worse than he expected.

First of all, the morale of the army is low, and the soldiers have no determination to fight to the death for His Majesty the Emperor.

In the first battle of Jiangdong, more than 100,000 people from the North China Front were wiped out. Such terrifying combat effectiveness frightened several divisions that came as reinforcements from the mainland.

These divisions are all newly formed, and 70% of them are new recruits with insufficient training and lack of combat experience. Compared with the first few divisions that landed in China, they are simply unsightly.

Although he looked down upon it, this was all the power he could use. Okamura Neji would never blame others, but would find ways to solve problems.

If training is insufficient, strengthen training; if combat experience is insufficient, pull them out to fight. Only victory can awaken the fighting spirit in the hearts of the empire's warriors.

Okamura Neiji acted vigorously and resolutely, and within a few days he was able to sort out the mess in North China.

On February 10, Okamura Neiji convened the officers of the North China Front for a military meeting for the first time.

"Gentlemen, as warriors of the Japanese Empire and members of the North China Front, we should bear in mind the shame of Operation No. A!

There is an old Chinese proverb that says, "Know your shame and then be brave, and all the gentlemen encourage you!"

Okamura Neji's demeanor and tone were very calm, but his words were decisive, making the officers' minds tremble.

"Hiyi!"

Several division commanders stood up from their seats and bowed in the direction of the main seat.

Okamura Neiji pressed his hand, and without much nonsense, he directly asked people to unfold the combat map.

"Jiangdong has invaded Shanxi and Suiyuan, and recently even reached the Huailai area! The failure of Operation A caused us to lose a large number of resource producing areas, and we were compressed in Hebei, Shandong and other places and were unable to move!"

The officers sat at attention, their eyes following the baton in Neji Okamura's hand.

"The most important thing for us right now is not to avenge our shame or fight back, but to gain a foothold in North China! The guerrillas are rampant across North China, which greatly restricts the actions of the imperial army!

Therefore, I decided to take a defensive position in Jiangdong in the next two months, and all divisions will use their full strength to deal with the guerrillas in the occupied areas!"

One of the reasons for Tada Shun's failure was that the main force did not arrive at the scheduled combat position in time, and the logistics transportation lines and transportation supply lines were harassed by guerrillas, which prevented the imperial army from using all its strength to deal with the enemy on the frontal battlefield.

Okamura Neiji will never let failure happen again.

Putting the first combat target on the guerrillas can not only solve the hidden dangers in the occupied areas, but also take the opportunity to sharpen and train the troops, turn the recruits into veterans, and slowly restore the morale and morale of the troops.

Neji Okamura glanced at all the officers with a stern look, and then passed the baton to Chahar's position.

"Chahar and other places including Xuanhua, Wanquan, and Zhangjiakou have been controlled by Jiangdong, and it makes little sense for the imperial army to continue to entangle with them. Therefore, I decided to abandon the southern part of Chahar and withdraw all the imperial troops to the north of the Great Wall!

Construction of fortifications was carried out in Zhangbei, Guyuan, Baokang and other places!

The 42nd Division is responsible for this matter!"

The commander of the 42nd Division stood up from his seat and bowed to receive the order.

"Jiangdong's strength cannot be underestimated. The fortifications must be built extremely strong. It would be even better if you could hollow out the mountain!"

Okamura Neiji used the words "hollowing out the mountain" as a reference to the commander of the 42nd Division.

The latter's expression was stagnant, but he quickly understood what the General meant and bowed to accept the order again.

Okamura Neiji did not stop, he began to focus on the long-prepared "security strengthening campaign."

“The guerrillas are mainly entrenched in the mountainous areas of Hebei and Shandong. The mountainous areas where two or more provinces intersect are their main bases!

Jizhong, Jinan, Bohai, Shandong, Jiaodong... these places are particularly rampant!

It must be cleared away with thunderous means to solve the imperial army’s worries!”

Under the burning gazes of the officers, Okamura Neji uttered a few words:

"Qingxiang, cannibalize, sweep away!"

Okamura Neji twitched the corner of his mouth, and a cold smile suddenly appeared.

“The implementation of the rural clearing movement in areas controlled by the imperial army will not give the guerrillas any space to survive!

The cannibalization policy was implemented in places where the imperial army was relatively weak and guerrillas often appeared. Village by village, township by town, these places were turned into security areas!

Finally, there is the base camp of the guerrillas, the mountainous area they call the base area! In these places, they will be stationed and cleared, and at the same time, the "three lights" policy of burning them all, killing them all, and robbing them all will be implemented!

This is the first phase of the battle!

After this stage is over, the guerrillas in North China will suffer heavy losses! This is a group of dirty rats. It is almost impossible to completely eliminate them in one battle, so the second stage of the operation must be implemented!

The imperial army must carry out occasional raids to turn the villages in the mountainous areas into scorched earth! At the same time, they build bunkers, dig trenches, pull barbed wire fences outside the mountainous areas, and use thousands of strongholds to divide and imprison the guerrillas!

Resolutely prohibit the flow of people and materials to captive areas, and let the majestic nature eliminate these filthy rats!"

The officers' eyes were blazing and their fighting spirit was awakened.

As long as the Commander-in-Chief's vision is implemented, the guerrillas in various parts of North China will be trapped and starved to death, posing a threat to the imperial army's occupation.

"The day when the public security strengthening campaign ends is when we seek revenge from Jiangdong, gentlemen, work hard!"

“Hiyi!!!”

The officers responded loudly, their voices much louder than at first.

From this moment on, the security strengthening operation officially begins!

Okamura Neji also knows that Kodong is developing rapidly, and Kodong will become stronger with one more day.

But he had no choice but to take the lead in strengthening public security.

Otherwise, we will follow in the footsteps of Sugiyama Gen and Tada Shun!

Okamura Neiji learned from his old classmates who worked at the base camp that the base camp's strategic policy was gradually moving toward the south.

That is to say, I chose the latter among the previous northward and southward routes.

The development of Jiangdong and the threat of the Soviet Far East Group made the base camp gradually give up the strategic policy of heading north.

Germany is running rampant in Europe, and Japan must also move to a higher level. If it is too late, the world will be divided up.

Okamura Neiji had long guessed that the base camp would make this choice, because the navy's warships were dropping like dumplings in an endless stream, and the Chongqing National Government had not surrendered. The Chinese battlefield fell into an awkward stalemate, and input and output were disproportionate.

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Under such circumstances, the small countries in the south and their oil, rubber and other resources seem more attractive.

But Okamura Neiji insists that if you want to conquer the world, you must first conquer China!

Only by conquering China first can the Japanese Empire leave the precarious Japanese islands and win the right to survival and development.

It's just that the policies of the base camp are not something he can control. All he can do is manage the "one-third of an acre" in North China.

Okamura Neji is 56 years old, but his desire to conquer and invade has not diminished at all!

Driven by these two desires, he is full of energy and does not feel tired easily.

After the combat meeting, he hurriedly called the director of the intelligence agency.

Okamura Neiji believes that the three major offensives of politics, military, and espionage that Sugiyama Moto launched previously are very useful, and he will continue to carry them out.

The former head of the intelligence agency of the North China Front, Seiichi Tsunekita, has been dismissed and returned to China. The new head of the agency is named Tanaka Takayoshi.

Tanaka Takayoshi and Okamura Neji are old acquaintances, and they have collaborated many times.

Okamura Neiji appreciated Tanaka Takayoshi's ability. He was promoted to general. After being transferred to the commander of the North China Front, he requested the base camp to promote Tanaka Takayoshi to major general and serve as the head of the intelligence agency.

Tanaka Takayoshi was successfully promoted. He was extremely grateful to Okamura Neji and worked extra hard.

"What's going on with the Chinese codenamed Lin Yu?" Okamura Neji asked.

Tanaka Ryukichi showed a contemptuous smile on his face,

"He is still living in the prison of the intelligence agency and does not seem to be planning to come out. This man takes his life too seriously. He raised two little mice in the prison. Every day, he has to give the mice first.

He will only eat it after he has eaten it and confirmed that it is not poisonous!"

"There are actually people like this under Jiang Dong!"

Okamura Neji chuckled twice,

"Did he write what I asked him to write?"

Tanaka Takayoshi hurriedly took out a stack of documents from his bag and neatly placed them on Okamura Neji's desk.

Okamura Neji nodded with satisfaction.

"You go back and let him continue writing. Write whatever he can think of. Details, I want details!"

"Hiyi!"
To be continued...